''Hometown Tales'' began as a

Public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

cable TV program in the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, New York and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

area in 2002. It was created by a producer from

, Gene Fitzpatrick and a writer from

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

, Bryan Minogue. It soon expanded into a popular

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

, radio program and website. ''Hometown Tales'' focuses on urban legends, folklore, historic oddities, ghost stories and local culture from towns all over. All this is done with a light hearted twist and friendly exchange by the hosts. Gene Fitzpatrick plays the role of the

skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the ...

while Bryan Minogue is frequently fearful of the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

stories. Emphasis is put on the tales, and not their veracity; therefore a pure urban legend will be treated on equal ground with a true story. The television program resulted in nine 30 minutes episodes which still air on many Public-access television channels like Patriot 8 from Patriot Cable in Somerset, NJ,

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

of Morris and others. Many of those segments have been re-purposed in a

vidcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

feed as well as on the Hometown Tales website. Hometown Tales began producing a podcast to support the TV show. It was one of the earlier podcasts on the scene and peaked in the Top 10 of most popular podcasts on Podcast Alley. For a brief period of time the program aired on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially lau ...

as part of Dawn and Drew Presents. Even though the program was used by Dawn and Drew during their block of air time on Sirius courtesy of

Adam Curry Adam Clark Curry (born September 3, 1964) is an American podcaster, announcer, Internet entrepreneur and media personality, known for his stint as a VJ on MTV and being one of the first celebrities to personally create and administer Web site ...

Podshow Mevio Inc. (formerly known as PodShow) was an American internet entertainment network, founded in San Francisco, California in October 2004 by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom. History PodShow Inc. was founded in San Francisco, California in October 200 ...

, Hometown Tales was never actually contracted by

later known as Mevio. They were also featured heavily on KYOU Radio in San Francisco. While the shows decreased to a bare minimum during 2012 and 2013, they returned in November 2014 and release new recordings inconsistently.

References

*BBC Lists ''Hometown Tales'' as Top Podcast

{{cite web, title=Hometown Tales Podcast #356, url=http://www.hometowntales.com, website=Hometown Tales, accessdate=November 15, 2014 Television shows set in the United States American public access television shows